- Home
- e-Journals
- Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area
- Previous Issues
- Volume 47, Issue 1, 2024
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area - Volume 47, Issue 1, 2024
Volume 47, Issue 1, 2024
-
Notation and phonology of the Tri language in Vilabouly*
Author(s): Gérard Diffloth, James R. Chamberlain and Nathan Badenochpp.: 1–16 (16)More LessAbstractGérard Diffloth (1937–2023) was a leading authority on Austroasiatic languages, with a wide range of linguistic interests ranging from historical reconstruction to expressives, and much more. He was a tireless fieldworker who firmly believed that research into the linguistic history of Austroasiatic need be grounded in long-term fieldwork with native speakers in their daily speech environment. In this paper we introduce an unpublished manuscript on the phonology of the Tri language spoken in Vilabouly District, Savannakhet Province in southern Laos. We frame this with a brief introduction to his work, with a tribute to his commitment to fieldwork and the principles he maintained throughout the many decades of working with speakers of Austroasiatic languages.
-
Voice onset time in Rma
Author(s): Nathaniel A. Sims, Bai Jianqiong and Ludwig Adisiswoyopp.: 17–31 (15)More LessAbstractRma (also called Qiang) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Northwestern Sichuan, China. In the literature on Rma, all documented varieties of Rma have been reported to have a three-way voice onset timing (VOT) distinction between voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated, and voiced unaspirated obstruents. This study reports a variety of Rma, which has a near merger of the voiceless unaspirated and voiced unaspirated stops. A pilot study was conducted with speakers from three different villages within Yonghe valley. The results of this empirical study suggest that the Lower Yonghe valley variety has innovated a near merger between voiced and voiceless unaspirated obstruents.
-
Voice onset time in Angami
Author(s): Viyazonuo Terhiija and Priyankoo Sarmahpp.: 32–56 (25)More LessAbstractAngami has three-way laryngeal contrasts in stops, i.e., voiced, voiceless unaspirated, and voiceless aspirated. Apart from that, Angami also has four phonetically level tones. Due to the level nature of the lexical tones in Angami, consonantal perturbations could be investigated clearly. The results of the study showed that the extent of consonantal perturbation depended on the tonal categories. Voiceless consonantal perturbations were weaker as tone categories got higher. Conversely, voiced stop consonantal perturbations were weaker as tone categories got lower. This study also found a systematic relationship between tone height and VOT duration. High tones induced shorter VOT, while low tones induced longer VOT.
-
“Come thou the spirits of village and locality, come thou the spirits of sons and daughters!”
Author(s): Pauthang Haokippp.: 57–89 (33)More LessAbstractThis paper discusses the ritual language of Thadou-Kuki, a Tibeto-Burman language of the Kuki-Chin subgroup spoken in Northeastern India and the Chin State of Myanmar. The paper examines 13 ritual texts to determine the nature of language use and the types of structure that ritual language provides. The paper discusses the general belief surrounding the traditional religion as background information to the types of ritual language discussed in the paper. This is followed by a discussion on the structure of ritual language in terms of composition, grammatical constructions, and the choices of words used in the ritual language of Thadou-Kuki, including archaic expressions that are characteristic of ritual language. From the analysis of the ritual texts, the paper discusses the types of repetition at the level of syllables and paragraphs/stanzas. Each stanza is further divided into couplets of repetitive phrases (differing mostly in the initial words of a phrase or sentence). The paper divides the ritual language of Thadou-Kuki into two, namely invocation and direct address to the spirits. The former makes use of imperatives, namely the request –ô, the invitational –în, and the hortative –hèen. Direct address to the spirits, on the other hand, makes use of the declarative mood, namely, a clause or sentence-final marker –e.
-
Revisiting “aberrant” features in Saek
Author(s): Pittayawat Pittayapornpp.: 90–117 (28)More LessAbstractThis study challenges the notion of Saek as an aberrant member of Tai by proposing that certain features previously considered archaic are, in fact, contact-induced innovations. Specifically, it argues that multiple correspondences involving /j-/ and the alleged split of the Proto-Tai *A1 tone can be traced back to Vietnamese and Lao or Thai influence. Additionally, this paper asserts that Saek is closely related to Fusui, a Northern Tai dialect spoken in southwestern Guangxi. This paper concludes that Saek is a Tai language with some unique retentions and traces of contact with neighboring languages.
-
Tone sandhi in Nuosu Yi at the interface
Author(s): Seunghun J. Lee and Hong Shenpp.: 118–139 (22)More LessAbstractNuosu Yi, a Tibeto-Burman language, has a tone sandhi pattern, where a lexical [33] -tone is realized as [44]-tone on the surface. This tone sandhi pattern in Nuosu Yi is described as having a “weak phonological status (Gerner, 2013: 28)”. In this study, we confirm this observation and further show the role of phonological length in the tone sandhi patterns. A closer examination of the sandhi contexts, however, reveals an intricate interplay between phonology and morphology of various aspects of Nuosu Yi grammar. Tone sandhi is conditioned by word size and morphological processes. Monosyllabic words, but not multi-syllabic words, tend to undergo tone sandhi, and tone sandhi is sensitive to morphological operations such as compounding.
-
The multiple functions of the reflexive pronoun in Tujia
Author(s): Lu Man and Jeroen van de Weijerpp.: 140–159 (20)More LessAbstractThis paper investigates the functions of the reflexive pronoun ko53to21/to21 in Tujia, a Tibeto-Burman (TB) language. Apart from being used as a verb object, the reflexive pronoun in Tujia can be used as an intensifier, indicating “self, non-other”, but it can also be used to create “passive” or “causative” meaning. It is argued that both meanings created by the reflexive pronoun can be accounted for under a decomposition approach. Verbal reflexives isomorphic with anti-causative or passive morphemes have been reported for European languages, while a reflexive pronoun with causative meaning is quite rare. The present paper therefore contributes not only to the typology in this area but also to the expression of causative and passive in Tibeto-Burman languages.
Most Read This Month

-
-
Clause linking in Japhug
Author(s): Guillaume Jacques
-
-
-
Reflexive derivations in Thulung
Author(s): Aimée Lahaussois
-
- More Less